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greek fire


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Just now, Piney said:

There's a video on Youtube NatGeo or one of those, where they tried to reproduce it. I have to look.  

I saw those, they never got it exactly right they said, just close. Drip gas fits the description exactly. 

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19 minutes ago, Awlsew said:

 Drip gas fits the description exactly. 

Are you talking about drip torch fuel?

The stuff we use to fight fires is just white kerosene.

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53 minutes ago, Piney said:

Are you talking about drip torch fuel?

The stuff we use to fight fires is just white kerosene.

Drip gas. Natural gasoline. 

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Drip Gas/natural gas condensate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural-gas_condensate

Drip gas, so named because it can be drawn off the bottom of small chambers (called drips) sometimes installed in pipelines from gas wells, is another name for natural-gas condensate, a naturally occurring form of gasoline obtained as a byproduct of natural gas extraction. It is also known as "condensate", "natural gasoline", "casing head gas", "raw gas", "white gas" and "liquid gold".[9][10] Drip gas is defined in the United States Code of Federal Regulations as consisting of butane, pentane, and hexane hydrocarbons. Within set ranges of distillation, drip gas may be extracted and used to denature fuel alcohol.[11] Drip gas is also used as a cleaner and solvent as well as a lantern and stove fuel.

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Usually I’m not crazy about necroposting, but this thread predates me here. It’s interesting.

Is Aquatus still around?

—Jaylemurph 

Edited by jaylemurph
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9 minutes ago, jaylemurph said:

Is Aquatus still around?

I haven't seen him in years. 

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2 hours ago, jaylemurph said:

Usually I’m not crazy about necroposting, but this thread predates me here. It’s interesting.

Is Aquatus still around?

—Jaylemurph 

Last visit “March 12” according to his profile, so I’m assuming this year.

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17 hours ago, Awlsew said:

Drip Gas/natural gas condensate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural-gas_condensate

Drip gas, so named because it can be drawn off the bottom of small chambers (called drips) sometimes installed in pipelines from gas wells, is another name for natural-gas condensate, a naturally occurring form of gasoline obtained as a byproduct of natural gas extraction. It is also known as "condensate", "natural gasoline", "casing head gas", "raw gas", "white gas" and "liquid gold".[9][10] Drip gas is defined in the United States Code of Federal Regulations as consisting of butane, pentane, and hexane hydrocarbons. Within set ranges of distillation, drip gas may be extracted and used to denature fuel alcohol.[11] Drip gas is also used as a cleaner and solvent as well as a lantern and stove fuel.

That's unlikely, since they weren't processing oil into gasoline and it doesn't form naturally on its own.  This kind of distillation is found only after 800 AD, which is just a tad late for "Greek Fire" and the amounts produced are pretty darn small: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerosene#History

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Oh ho! Recently acquired a copy of William Corliss's Strange Earth which I've been reading, from his Sourcebook project. There's a section on myths related to geophysical phenomenon that includes a reference to the Chimera in association with a natural perpetual flame located in Lycia, in Anatolia. The section goes on to include a passage from Pliny that states:

"In the same country of Syria the mountains of Hephaestius, when touched with a flaming torch, burn so violently that even the stones in the river and the sand burn while actually in the water. This fire is also increased by rain. If a person make furrows in the ground with a stick which has been kindled in this fire, it is said that a steam of fire will follow it."

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27 minutes ago, Oniomancer said:

Oh ho! Recently acquired a copy of William Corliss's Strange Earth which I've been reading, from his Sourcebook project. There's a section on myths related to geophysical phenomenon that includes a reference to the Chimera in association with a natural perpetual flame located in Lycia, in Anatolia. The section goes on to include a passage from Pliny that states:

"In the same country of Syria the mountains of Hephaestius, when touched with a flaming torch, burn so violently that even the stones in the river and the sand burn while actually in the water. This fire is also increased by rain. If a person make furrows in the ground with a stick which has been kindled in this fire, it is said that a steam of fire will follow it."

Sounds like bitumen.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asphalt

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3 hours ago, Kenemet said:

That's unlikely, since they weren't processing oil into gasoline and it doesn't form naturally on its own.  This kind of distillation is found only after 800 AD, which is just a tad late for "Greek Fire" and the amounts produced are pretty darn small: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerosene#History

Well on some parts of the earth drip gas would naturally pool above ground. Folks are making a lot of money today with those tracts. 

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1 hour ago, Oniomancer said:

Oh ho! Recently acquired a copy of William Corliss's Strange Earth which I've been reading, from his Sourcebook project. There's a section on myths related to geophysical phenomenon that includes a reference to the Chimera in association with a natural perpetual flame located in Lycia, in Anatolia. The section goes on to include a passage from Pliny that states:

"In the same country of Syria the mountains of Hephaestius, when touched with a flaming torch, burn so violently that even the stones in the river and the sand burn while actually in the water. This fire is also increased by rain. If a person make furrows in the ground with a stick which has been kindled in this fire, it is said that a steam of fire will follow it."

Sounds like drip gas.

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22 hours ago, Awlsew said:

If it was that simple, then why has the 'secret' of Greek Fire been a mystery for so long? It seems folks would have figured that out years ago.

If it was so simple to just be drip gas, they why has the 'secret of Greek Fire been a mystery for so long? It seems folks would have figured that out years ago too.

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Greek Fire

Not related to the link. I remember watch a show on Greek Fire a few years ago. I think they mentioned animal fat being an ingredient. I'm probably wrong though. 

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19 minutes ago, rashore said:

If it was so simple to just be drip gas, they why has the 'secret of Greek Fire been a mystery for so long? It seems folks would have figured that out years ago too.

Drip gas, or natural gas condensate, would have been in limited supply above ground. The amount would have been finite. 

But again, it is the only known substance that satisfys seemingly all definitions of 'Greek Fire'.

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12 hours ago, Awlsew said:

Drip gas, or natural gas condensate, would have been in limited supply above ground. The amount would have been finite. 

But again, it is the only known substance that satisfys seemingly all definitions of 'Greek Fire'.

Is Greek Fire anything like St. Anthony's fire? Perhaps it's an old Greek symbolism about the continual and incessant burning in Tartarus.

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It depends on what you mean by greek fire since it exist various descriptions. To me greek fire was simular to mordern napalm sadly the knowledge on how to make it got lost in history.

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36 minutes ago, Impedancer said:

It depends on what you mean by greek fire since it exist various descriptions. To me greek fire was simular to mordern napalm sadly the knowledge on how to make it got lost in history.

Yes, similar to napalm. Natural gas condensate is also very similar, especially when included with crude oil. Where there is natural gas condensate there is crude oil.

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Apparently nitrate will burn while under water, maybe there’s a connection to Greek Fire there?

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21 hours ago, Awlsew said:

Drip gas, or natural gas condensate, would have been in limited supply above ground. The amount would have been finite. 

But again, it is the only known substance that satisfys seemingly all definitions of 'Greek Fire'.

Provide a link, please, that says it's found in natural areas (and doesn't require processing), particularly in Greece.  I can't find any evidence on a quick search.

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4 minutes ago, Kenemet said:

Provide a link, please, that says it's found in natural areas (and doesn't require processing), particularly in Greece.  I can't find any evidence on a quick search.

Drip gas or condensate, in basically naturally occuring gasoline. 

Consequently, although the presence of either quicklime or saltpeter in the mixture cannot be entirely excluded, they were not the primary ingredient.[59][46] Most modern scholars agree that Greek fire was based on either crude or refined petroleum, comparable to modern napalm. The Byzantines had easy access to crude oil from the naturally occurring wells around the Black Sea (e.g., the wells around Tmutorakan noted by Constantine Porphyrogennetos) or in various locations throughout the Middle East.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_fire

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5 minutes ago, Awlsew said:

Drip gas or condensate, in basically naturally occuring gasoline. 

Consequently, although the presence of either quicklime or saltpeter in the mixture cannot be entirely excluded, they were not the primary ingredient.[59][46] Most modern scholars agree that Greek fire was based on either crude or refined petroleum, comparable to modern napalm. The Byzantines had easy access to crude oil from the naturally occurring wells around the Black Sea (e.g., the wells around Tmutorakan noted by Constantine Porphyrogennetos) or in various locations throughout the Middle East.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_fire

Your link doesn't mention anything about "drip gas" and there's nothing about it being found in nature, which is what I asked.  The Byzantine empire is from considerably later.

I was asking "where do you find naturally occurring 'drip gas' that you claimed existed in a previous post.  And I'd like some links to "where you find naturally occurring drip gas (not petroleum.  This drip gas.)

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1 minute ago, Kenemet said:

Your link doesn't mention anything about "drip gas" and there's nothing about it being found in nature, which is what I asked.  The Byzantine empire is from considerably later.

I was asking "where do you find naturally occurring 'drip gas' that you claimed existed in a previous post.  And I'd like some links to "where you find naturally occurring drip gas (not petroleum.  This drip gas.)

You can find naturally occuring gasoline where there are crude oil/natural gas wells. They exist together in many locations. Common knowledge in the industry.

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6 hours ago, Impedancer said:

It depends on what you mean by greek fire since it exist various descriptions. To me greek fire was simular to mordern napalm sadly the knowledge on how to make it got lost in history.

Whats mind boggling is that no one else even bothered to invent something similar during the time. Many empires of the time had academics that could have guessed a general mixture that maybe wouldn't have been as good but certainly good enough t get the job done. There is also a rumour that a dowery was given to a Russian Czar marrying a Byzantine princess of priceless books that also contained the secret to Greek fire. But that neither here nor there.  

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